Tag Archives: unfiltered

The most recent tragic events with victims Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, and the Dallas shooting are reminding me of what we previously, in our slumber, thought were the “dark ages” (no pun intended) of slavery…”loooooong ago”. The accounts indicate that when we (black people) were plucked and trafficked to this stolen land from our African roots, we were perceived as “troublemakers”…”wild” and “untamed” (as if we were savage animals). So, wait a minute…you mean to tell ME that those who were manipulated, trapped, captured, sold and tortured were the ones who were the beasts??? Aw okay. So if that is how truth gets spun, then let’s spin it. IF, now since these hostages have been locked up, beaten, pissed and defecated on (by themselves), they DID exhibit beast-like behavior…who made that happen? Whose black magic transformed those warriors and builders of productive societies into maniacal menaces? They didn’t ASK to come here. They didn’t sign up to be the foundational cargo of the “founding” sociopaths who needed their creativity, expertise and strength to create this so-called “great” nation we now live in. They were DRAGGED into the “system” literally kicking and screaming.

But alas, they get here. The “taming” of the descendants of previous warriors had already happened. They had been “broken in”. They had witnessed enough consistent and persistent beatings, lynchings, rapes, and murders of their sons, daughters, wives, and husbands that they’d chosen to LIVE rather than continue to fight the new reality they were thrown into. Remembering the ways of their native land was dangerous, could cost them their life, and cause pain beyond the humiliation, degradation and denigration of the daily burdens they were forced to bear…so they eventually chose to forget. And when the “new blood” came in, that group was attacked from BOTH, the sociopaths who needed them to find their “place” and settle into it, AND from the black slaves who needed them to basically sit the hell down and NOT make trouble for the rest of them while being broken in.

Now fast forward to the FIRST civil rights era. We managed to unite our factions of blackness to self-advocate. Some of us learned how to “play nice” and “ask politely” (peacefully/non-violently) for those “inalienable rights” which had ALWAYS been “alienated” (literally “made alien” and absolutely unattainable) for us. Others were militant and didn’t give a damn about how they were perceived. At times these groups sabotaged each other out of fear that the other’s process (whether “too meek” or “too forward”) was causing us unnecessary suffering. But somehow we eventually got our rights…so we thought. We finally had the approval to be HUMAN. To sit among other humans. To drink out of the same fountains as other humans (…even if it did eventually get RE-segregrated underground and our portion pumped full of lead). And go to school with other humans. I mean, it was written that we got them…kinda like being told we were “free”, while really just contorting and constructing new ways to fashion the chains to let us know that the oppressor wasn’t readily giving up the possessions that we had become…basically putting into place a new “leash” for the beasts they originally created.

Leap forward to today. We are called “thugs” instead of “savages” or “beasts”. Raped, as our men and women are hypersexualized, and our style and culture is appropriated. We are disproportionately locked up, beaten, proverbially pissed on in the workplace (i.e., wage inequality), and defecated on (BY OURSELVES – i.e., colorism, socioeconomic judgment)…and those who don’t live in our skin wonder why we’re so pissed off. So “hostile”. So unable to “cooperate” or “comply”. So suffocated and unable to breathe. So on edge. So quick to play the “race card”…that’s the f*ckin deck we were DEALT! Every damn card in that b*tch is a JOKER…perceived to have no rank. [UNLESS, of course, you’re playing Spades…in that case, a takeover of those holding “normal” cards is imminent. But I digress…]

The ground is swelling from the insane burial rate of black bodies…and distended from the lack of justice. And to add insult to injury, we fight each other about our process for seeking it, while the Establishment is only too happy to continue to withhold it while we figure the sh*t out amongst ourselves…throwing distractions (“All Lives Matter”) in for good measure. Meanwhile, another black life is snuffed out. And just as we grow enraged about how the victim is portrayed; about the killer(s) not being indicted, let alone seeing the inside of a prison; about another daughter/son losing a dad; about another brother, husband, uncle, cousin, mentor, etc. is assassinated…yet ANOTHER black body gets added to the toll count and hashtagged.

I’m over knowing “my place”. I’m over being polite. I’ve over not calling a thing exactly what it is. I’m over having to bridle, tame, and explain myself. The writing is on the wall, and it’s written in blood: Let’s be honest…black lives have NEVER mattered in this country. That’s why people get so up in arms (LITERALLY) about those who declare they do. Those who are content in the privilege of perceived dominance have waged all-out war on black lives and character…physically, economically, and psychologically. Slaves aren’t bought…they’re made. The challenge we have now is to NOT get “slaughtered” into compliance again. The power structure is threatened. And what’s happening now is a last-ditch effort to restore its security. We can’t yield to the shenanigans.

They’re TRYING to push us into primal survival mode…because THEN their accusations appear to be accurate, and open season becomes sanctioned and justified. Yeah-NAW. They’ve sabotaged themselves by their own greed. Too much, too often…and it’s triggered allies and co-authors in rewriting this narrative to wake up, speak up, and stand up in ways they never have before. And HEAR ME when I say this: As MUCH as my humanity wants to point a physical finger at a physical person/group of people, it’s really not a “person” or group of people I’m referring to when I say “they” – although white privilege IS real…but at this point, it’s beyond any person. This system has been FIRMLY established, and the white people of today are just the beneficiaries of the original intricate setup…whether they like it or not. But it’s only a matter of time before the whole thing implodes on itself…and now warriors (black and otherwise) have been mobilized to accelerate the process. I hope I live to see the day it utterly falls. #STAYAWAKE #endofanera